people, places and ICT

July 06, 2008

Meet Adrian Ristow

The research into Coca-Cola's distribution network in Ethopia and Tanzania, first mentioned here, is now underway and Adrian is the man on the ground. Despite the inevitable connectivity issues that we will face, Adrian has undertaken to keep a dialogue going on the work he is doing and the people he meets. This picture was taken on 3/7/08 when Adrian visted Mubarek, a distribution centre owner and his team in Addis Ababa.

This is going to be a fascinating series of reports I think and to kick things off, here is Adrian's background in his own words:

Let me first give you some personal context. I worked for nine years
for a bottler (Coca-Cola Sabco) where I saw first-hand the reach and
impact of Coca-Cola into the local community. Most of the countries for
which I carried responsibility (Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Kenya,
Uganda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Cambodia and Vietnam)
are emerging markets facing many of the challenges outlined in the Millenium Development Goals (MDG's), with poverty right at the
forefront. I reached a stage in my career at the end of last year,
where I really wanted to focus my energy more specifically on the role
that large corporates can play in these types of markets, although I
have a particular affinity for Africa specifically. So I proposed to
make a career change to give me the opportunity to pursue this passion
(as well as some others), which includes some further study in this
area.

At about the same time, The Coca-Cola Company was looking for a
project that not only truly demonstrated their commitment to the Business Call to Action, but also showed the ways that they were already
committed to making a difference around wealth creation through local
economic empowerment.

As things turned out, their needs and my passion overlapped and together we identified a project focused on an innovative distribution system, called the Manual Distribution Centre (MDC) System, being utilised by Coca-Cola Sabco and some other bottlers in Africa as something to pursue. I was, therefore, appointed as an independent contractor to manage the project from earlier this year.

I will be passing on any comments received here and on the Facebook Group to Adrian.